Edward William Lane's an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians- 1836 - Fine Binding 19th Century Book

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Original 1836 First Edition of “An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians" written during the years … Read more Original 1836 First Edition of “An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians" written during the years 1833-34, and 35, partly from the notes made during a former visit to that country in the years 1825, 26, 27, and 28 by Edward William Lane :: Published by Charles Knight London:: Measures 5 1/4 x 8" :: Complete with 402 Pages (Vol. I) / 419 Pages (Vol. II).

GOOD CONDITION: Both volumes are tightly bound, tape repair to outer and inner hinges of front covers, clean pages, bookplates on endpapers. cover wear as shown, complete with all pages; overall good solid copies.

Few works about the Middle East have exerted such wide and long-lasting influence as Edward William Lane's An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. First published in 1836, this classic book has never gone out of print, continuously providing material and inspiration for generations of scholars, writers, and travelers, who have praised its comprehensiveness, detail, and perception. Yet the editions in print during most of the twentieth century would not have met Lane's approval. Lacking parts of Lane's text and many of his original illustrations (while adding many that were not his), they were based on what should have been ephemeral editions, published long after the author's death. Here is the original 1836 edition in its entire completeness.

Lane arrived in Alexandria in September 1825, and soon left for Cairo. He remained in Egypt for two and a half years, mingling with the locals, dressed as a Turk (the ethnicity of the then-dominant Ottoman Empire) and taking notes of everything he saw and heard. In Old Cairo, he lived near Bab al-Hadid, and studied Arabic, among others, with Sheikh Muhammad 'Ayyad al-Tantawi. He returned to England with his voluminous notes in the autumn of 1828. Continuing to be fascinated by Egyptian lives and customs, he traveled to Egypt once again and lived in Cairo from 1833 to 1835, where he studied and adopted Egyptian dress

Immersing himself in Egyptian culture, Lane learned the Arabic language and adopted the Arab way of life. Written before the forces of innovation transformed Egypt, Manners and Customs is recognized for its wide-ranging scope of detail of daily life on topics such as the nature of Islamic laws and its relation to government, birth and marriage customs, death and funeral rites, music and dancing, and the world of magic and alchemy. Throughout are numerous illustrations. A pioneering work of cultural anthropology, E.W. Lane's study of Egyptian society is a wildly fascinating example of 19th Century Egypt and the Arab way of life. See less